


Stepping Up

by Eipos



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: (Sorta) Established Relationship, (that isn't really fake), Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Anxiety, Awkward Flirting, Caring, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Happy Ending, Hospitals, M/M, Serious Injuries, big decision
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-06-24 08:34:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19720063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eipos/pseuds/Eipos
Summary: Life can be great. Ryan loves his life. His job is awesome despite having to visit haunted places and taunting ghosts and demons alike. He has the best friend anyone could ever have and he could also have the best boyfriend if he could just find the courage to actually flirt back...Life can also be unpredictable, though, and tragic. Like accidentally getting mortally wounded while inspecting a haunted prison.But Shane is always, always there.(Vampire AU)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well. Never thought I would write RPF before. I thought that was a hard limit for me, but apparently not! In my defense, how is it possible to resist those guys? I tell myself that, though Ryan and Shane aren't playing a role like actors... they're still on a show, right? They're still in front of cameras, where everyone changes a bit, right? Right? Anything to let me sleep at night!
> 
> This story is mostly done. I'll be posting once a week so that I can finish writing and so that I can edit properly. Hopefully you'll like my story! I personally like this fandom with vampires and other creatures as the main characters. I was inspired to write this fic after reading Heartbeat by quackers. That fic is AMAZING, I swear!
> 
> On with it then!

The thing is, Ryan really loves his job despite a few inconveniences. So, he has to meet a few demons. So, he has to sleep in haunted places. So, he gets to be terrified way too often in those type of locations. It’s all worth it in Ryan’s eyes because he has a passion for mysteries that keeps him up at night, he adores working on videos and, well, Shane is the best co-host and best friend he could possibly have.

Ryan couldn’t possibly have a better job. Still, sometimes, he has to stop for a second and ask himself, how the heck did he land in this particular life? Is this really what he was hoping to do? As a career?

These questions only ever plague him when he’s in a haunted location that is especially frightening, minutes before he’s supposed to wander around without Shane. Shane, the only one who is able to keep him relatively calm.

The Yuma Territorial Prison is one of those locations. Not only is it a prison, potentially filled with ghosts that used to be criminals, but Shane has admitted to hearing some weird sounds around the place. This never bodes well in Ryan’s book. When the most skeptical person he knows admits to some unusual activity (that is done by ghosts, he knows it is), then Ryan figures he’s allowed to freak out a bit. And, boy, does he have time to freak out while Shane ventures into the snake den. Full of bats.

Good God, Ryan isn’t sure if he’s going to survive this.

When time is up, Shane comes back, all strapped in with his equipment, and Ryan notices how tense his friend is despite the stupid smile on his face. They banter in front of the camera, with Shane telling him that he’s going to absolutely hate it, and Ryan can’t help but notice how Shane’s shoulders are higher than usual. How Shane is leaning a bit more forward, like he’s still trying to protect himself from an unknown evil.

They take a quick break at this point so that Mark and TJ can change the cameras’ batteries and so that Devon can get the equipment off of Shane and onto Ryan. They work efficiently and once Ryan is completely strapped up, he takes a deep breath, trying to find enough courage in himself to visit the snake den. Because it’s his turn now. Fucking hell.

The cameras aren’t rolling yet and Shane leans closer to Ryan while the rest of the crew make a few tests with sound.

“You got this, Ryan,” Shane tells his friend as he rests his hand on Ryan’s elbow. The touch is discreet but it holds some intimacy, just like every touch has in the last few weeks. Suddenly, Ryan feels a bit out of breath, but it isn’t because of the ghosts in the prison. “It’s just bats in there, buddy.”

Ryan is able to smile to his friend and, for a short moment, leans in more closely to Shane. He hadn’t responded to Shane’s flirting at first because… because… it’s Shane. The guy that won’t admit ghosts exist. The guy that’s too tall for his own good. The guy that is so funny. The guy that finds Ryan interesting. The guy that fucking completes Ryan when he takes two freaking seconds to just think it over.

Okay. So Ryan might have been trying to find the guts to actually reciprocate Shane’s feelings in the last few days. Right now might not be the perfect moment, but hey. He feels full of bravado now, what with facing the ghosts in the snake den. Why not add ‘flirting with Shane’ in his list?

“Yeah, right,” Ryan drawls, trying to talk slower and setting his voice a bit lower than usual. “You’re really bad at comforting, you know?  _ Just _ bats? I saw, like, a dozen of them in there. That’s an  _ army _ of bats. Plus ghosts, because ghosts are real, obviously. Do we need to have this conversation again? You’re not doing a good job at calming me down, you know.”

Jesus Christ, Ryan is so out of practice, it’s not even funny. How was that flirty? It wasn’t. But, hey. Flirting in a haunted prison still isn’t a good place to do so, no matter how courageous Ryan might be feeling in this moment.

Still, his awkward intention must be clear to Shane because he gets this surprised look on his face before beaming at Ryan. It might make Ryan’s blood rush to his head, but they’re outside, at night, in a badly lit prison. No one is going to notice anything.

“Well, you know,” Shane starts with an unassuming shrug. “I’ll be there when you come back and if you still feel the need to cry like a baby, I guess I could work on that skill.”

Ryan can’t help the stupid laugh that escapes him. This sort of banter isn’t even a little bit sexy, but it’s how they interact all the time and it’s… it’s weirdly domestic. Like they’re an old couple or something and it relieves Ryan. He had been scared of making a move lately because he didn’t know how this new relationship would change them. If this is how it’s going to be from now on though… he doesn’t think he has to be scared at all.

“Fuck you for saying that I’m going to cry like a baby,” Ryan still replicates. He does have a reputation to uphold, no matter what has been captured on film since show’s beginning. “I am, however, going to hold you up to that.”

Before Shane can answer with any other flirty/non flirty suggestion, Devon turns away from the cameras to face them. “Okay! We’re ready for Ryan’s turn.”

With one last fortifying breath, Ryan leaves the crew behind him, responding to a few of Shane’s taunts with snappy comebacks and then steps into a short gloomy corridor. He keeps his eyes in front of him in hopes that he won’t see any weird shadows. He knows he should try to find any proof of the supernatural, other than the beings that have already been discovered, like vampires and werewolves, but he doesn’t think he’ll be able to walk into the snake den if he finds something shifty while still in the corridor.

“Alright, alright,” he says to no one. He can’t stop himself, when he’s in these kind of situations without Shane to talk him through it, the sound of his voice seems to be the only thing that can soothe him. He walks out of the corridor and into the small room. “That’s the entrance of the snake den and —Oh my God! How is there so many fucking bats?”

Ryan literally freezes on the spot when he sees all the little creatures flying everywhere in the room. He only snaps out of it when one of them snaps its wings closer to him. “Oh shit!”

Quickly, Ryan walks further into the room as he leans closer to the ground. Once in the center of the room, he crouches down so that he won’t be as big a target and, regretfully, turns off his flashlight. Ryan can’t remember a moment where he felt as high strung as he feels right now. Except when they visited Sally. Fucking Sally.

“Holy shit… okay, bats…” he says quietly as he keeps his eyes on the ceiling. It’s fucked up how completely dark it is in the room but he still feels and hears the bats flying around. “I don’t want to hurt you and you don’t want to hurt me either. We can share a room for a few minutes, yeah? I’m just a boring human… nothing interesting there...”

For the next few minutes, Ryan keeps as still as he can while still babbling nonsense. It’s horrible, but as time goes on, the bats start getting more and more cocky. They fly closer to him and the sound of their wings, barely a few inches away from his ears, makes him want to scream. He keeps it in. Barely. And then he remembers that he’s supposed to be looking for ghosts.

“Oh my freaking God…” he wines helplessly. He wants to close his eyes and hang his head forward, but he’s too scared to do so. He needs to stay alert. “I forgot about the ghosts. How am I supposed to look for ghosts right now? I hate this… I hate this  _ so _ much…”

As if in response to his complaint, a bat swoops down and actually hits Ryan behind the neck. He’s sure it’s just the bat’s wing that flaps against his neck and maybe a scratch from the creature’s tiny claw. Or was that a bite? It doesn’t matter. The shock and the small pain Ryan feels makes him scream bloody murder.

The sound of his own voice seems unbearably loud in the small closed off room and he quickly pulls himself together, snapping his mouth shut.

“Ryan?” comes the far away sound of Shane’s voice. He doesn’t seem too worried, but, in his defense, Ryan does tend to freak out over nothing. “You okay, man?”

“Is my time over?” Ryan asks, not even answering the question. He can’t right now. He might have stopped himself from falling into complete panic, but he’s pretty sure he’s still close to that precipice. He needs out. He really, really needs out. “Please say my time’s over.”

There’s a pause and Ryan curses under his breath. Freaking hell, they better say he can leave this fucking hell hole.

“Yeah, you can come back,” Shane says and, from the tone, Ryan is pretty sure he hasn’t stayed as long as he was supposed to.

He does not care one bit. Ryan hasn’t ever tested himself as much as he has on this show and if he misses a minute or two, he sure isn’t going to miss any sleep over that. He’ll toss and turn while remembering this horrible nightmare, but not about being unable to stay the full ten minutes.

“Alright,” Ryan says, his voice shaky with relief. “I’m coming out.”

He tries to stand up, but his legs don’t answer him at all. His muscles have cramped up because of the awkward position and also because he has been tense this whole time. He tries another time, with his hands pushing on the dirty ground, but still, his muscles aren’t responding.

Ryan feels a spark of panic bubbling in his stomach and forcibly pushes the feeling away. When a dizzy spell hits him on top of everything, Ryan thinks that maybe there’s something wrong with him. He’s seriously starting to feel bad.

“Sha-Shane!” he tries to say as loudly as he can. His jaw feels like jello and he has to consciously push his lungs harder to make his voice sound like normal. “I… I need help!”

He’s sweating profusely. Especially his back. Ryan runs his hand in his wet hair and behind his neck.

“Are you alright?” Worry is starting to taint Shane’s voice.

Ryan can’t answer because he finds his neck to be way too wet. And whatever is on his neck isn’t sweat; the liquid is too thick and sticky.

“Oh God,” Ryan whispers as he brings his trembling fingers in front of his face. It’s too dark to see what’s coating them, so Ryan clicks his flashlight open and promptly panics when he sees that his hand is completely red with blood.

His heartbeat stutters before pumping incredibly fast. Adrenaline gives Ryan the strength he needs to alert his co-host.

“Shane!” he yells loudly, making the bats scatter around more wildly. He can’t blame them. He hasn’t ever heard himself sound like that, like he’s seconds away from death, terrified out of his mind. “I’m bleeding! A lot!”

Ryan thinks he hears someone curse and then there’s the sound of multiple pair of shoes hitting the ground. A second later, Shane appears in the snake den with a flashlight.

“What’s going o—Oh shit, Ryan!”

Shane jumps forward with a terrified expression on his face. Ryan, upon seeing the one person he feels safe with, sags in relief even though he knows they’re still deep into the woods.

“What happened?!” Shane asks as he pulls Ryan into his arms.

Ryan feels his head fall against Shane’s shoulder, his muscles becoming useless. “I… I don’t know. I feel weird. A bat hit me and… I feel… I feel…”

He can’t finish his sentence, partly because he feels like shit, but also because he genuinely can’t answer that question. What the fuck happened?

“Okay, okay,” Shane says nervously. Ryan feels his friend shifting against him so that he can put one arm around Ryan’s shoulders and the other under his knees. “Devon, call an ambulance!”

Shane’s hold on Ryan tightens and then he stands up with his friend in his arms. Ryan hears Shane grunt under his weight but he doesn’t say anything as he quickly pulls Ryan out of the prison. Ryan sees the crew following them with worried expressions on their faces and Devon on her phone, urgently talking to someone.

“You’re going to be fine, buddy,” Shane whispers to him. “You’re going to be fine. Just stay awake, okay? Stay with me.”

Ryan wants to nod, but is unable to. He guesses the best he can do is keep his eyes open and ignore how chilly he feels.

It doesn’t take long before they all land in the parking lot where their car is. Ryan has a passing thought for the equipment they left behind, but it really is fleeting.

“Okay, the ambulance is on its way,” Devon says as she pockets her phone. “They should be here any minute.”

“Good,” Shane grunts. “Someone open the car so that I can put Ryan inside.”

Mark quickly opens the door for the backseat and Shane quickly drops Ryan. Shane reaches to the ceiling light in the car and pushes a few buttons until it turns on. Ryan has to squint his eyes against the glare.

“That’s a lot of blood,” he hears Shane whisper and then there’s an uncomfortable pressure on his neck. “I need a shirt or something! Quickly!”

Ryan’s vision is still blurry but he can still hear the sound of some clothes rustling and, barely a second later, Shane’s hand is replaced with a fabric of some kind. And it’s pressed  _ hard _ against his neck. Ryan wines in discomfort.

“I know, I know,” Shane says softly. Ryan feels his friend’s other hand cupping his face. “We just need to stop the blood, okay? We’re just waiting for the ambulance to arrive and then you’re going to be in good hands, alright?”

Ryan wines again, in distress this time. He hasn’t ever heard Shane this worried before and Ryan is suddenly scared of dying. It’s very real right now. He  _ could _ die. This could be the last few minutes of his life and it’s terrifying.

With a second surge of adrenaline, Ryan finally opens his eyes fully. He remembers breaking his arm while playing a game of basketball with his friends and he remembers riding the ambulance all alone because he didn’t have any family member with him. He doesn’t want a repeat, especially if there’s the very real possibility of him dying before reaching the hospital.

“Sha-Shane?” he asks in a croak as he peers best friend’s face. Shane looks really pale under the yellow light and there are bags under his worried eyes.

“Yeah, buddy?”

“Don’t leave me,” Ryan whispers. He lifts his hand and grabs Shane’s elbow, hoping his friend will understand how serious he’s being right now. “Don’t leave me alone. I don’t want to be alone with a stranger, alright?”

Shane seems to understand because he nods before giving a very small smile. “I told you I would take care of you after, right? Work on this comforting a friend thing?”

Well, that makes Ryan smile, though tiredly. “You’re doing better this time around.”

Shane huffs a tiny laugh but doesn’t respond. He just keeps a steady pressure on Ryan’s neck.

“I think I hear the ambulance,” Devon suddenly says.

The crew perks up and Ryan sees them getting busy. He doesn’t exactly know what they’re doing because his vision is starting to get blurry again, to the point that he needs to close his eyes. He does hear them though. He hears TJ making a plan for the equipment they left unattended at the prison. He hears Mark pacing up and down.

Most important of all, he hears the very controlled way Shane is breathing under the approaching blare of the ambulance’s siren. Ryan tries to match his own breathing to his friend’s and it helps to calm him down despite feeling like he’s about to lose consciousness.

“Stay with me, Ryan,” Shane tells him. “Keep your eyes open.”

His eyes are closed? He opens them but doesn’t see much of anything. It’s like he’s looking through a dark tunnel and the light at the end is too hazzy to know what he’s looking at. “I’m… I’m trying…” he gasps.

The pressure on his neck doesn’t hurt as much as it did at first. In fact, Ryan is starting to feel numb which he knows isn’t a good sign. Fortunately, he hears a large vehicle breaking near their car and the ambulance siren turns off.

“Where’s he?” comes the unknown voice of a woman. She sounds calm but urgent. “Is that him? Please step aside sir.”

Shane moves away and Ryan wines, suddenly terrified. He doesn’t want Shane to go away. He needs Shane with him and the man promised he wouldn’t leave him!

“It’s okay, Ryan,” Shane tells him soothingly. He isn’t far and though Ryan would prefer to have the man touching him, he still feels comforted. “I’m just letting the paramedic do her job.”

Someone pries one of his eyes open and flashes a light in it. Ryan would rear back if he could because this is rather unpleasant. The harsh treatment doesn’t last long at all, thankfully, and then there are hands pulling at him as he’s being transferred from the car and onto the stretcher, the pressure returning to his neck. It’s as he’s being wheeled away that he opens his mouth.

“Shane?” he asks, his voice barely a whisper. He tries to speak louder. “Shane?”

“I’m here,” Shane says, a few feet away on Ryan’s left.

“Okay…” he breathes out.

The stretcher is pulled into the ambulance and Ryan can’t help himself. The anxiety is burning his stomach. “Shane?” he asks again. Because the guy has to get into the ambulance too. Ryan needs him. If he dies, and maybe,  _ maybe _ it’ll happen, he needs someone with him. He needs someone that’s close to him in there because he’s terrified.

“I’m right here and I’m following you, just like I promised,” Shane reassures him.

But then comes the harsh voice of the paramedic. “I’m sorry, sir. Are you family to this man? Only family members can enter.”

Ryan feels his heart beat faster, though he feels his organ moving erratically. Can’t this woman understand that he  _ will _ die if Shane doesn’t follow him?

He needn’t worry, however. “I’m his husband,” Shane says, confident.

Ryan can’t help the small smile that escapes him. He fucking loves the guy and he’s so relieved, knowing that Shane will be in the ambulance with him that he finally relaxes. By doing so, he loses consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Being in an ambulance is awful for multiple reasons. First of all, Shane has a hard time fitting his frame inside the vehicle. Second, and most important of all, he hates the sight of Ryan bleeding out on the stretcher while wearing a mask and having a drip inserted into his arm.

Ryan is unresponsive and he looks like he’s step away from death. His normal golden skin looks grey. The cardiac monitor beeps in a very erratic manner and it’s incredibly alarming. The absolute worst is when the paramedic, a stern blond haired woman, shouts that Ryan is going into shock.

Shane likes to think that he’s a very capable man, always cool and controlled. Emotions? Sure, he has them, but he’s never overwhelmed by them, unlike some people he won’t name. Right now, however, Shane doesn’t feel cool or controlled. He’s second away from bursting into tears or screaming himself hoarse, he’s not sure which.

Time doesn’t seem to flow like it normally does. It seems like he’s in the ambulance for an eternity, but at the same time, the travel to the hospital passes in a blink of an eye. Shane doesn’t care, he’s too focused on Ryan and his weak breathing. As long as he’s breathing and his heart is beating, he knows Ryan is going to be alright.

When they finally arrive at the hospital, everything is a blur. Ryan is automatically wheeled into an emergency room and Shane is pretty much left to his own device after being told to stay in the waiting room until a nurse comes to fetch him.

If it was possible, Shane would be in the emergency room with Ryan right now, just so that he could know what’s happening. Because, even though seeing Ryan in the ambulance was horrible, at least he could still see his friend was alive. How is he supposed to wait for who knows how long it’s going to take until the doctors are done with Ryan?

The waiting is worse because of the other people surrounding him in the room. Everyone here is tense and he can even hear a woman crying quietly in her corner while they all hope for news by a nurse. Shane knows he should sit down since he knows this is going to take some time, but he’s full of anxious energy and he starts pacing. He’s not the only one to do so either.

Shane is trying to empty his mind, using the sound of his footfall as a metronome. It isn’t easy and Shane very much wants to freak out because this… Ryan isn’t just a friend. He’s his _best_ friend and Shane has been crushing on the guy for months now. More than a year, really. And Shane regrets not being as forward as he could have been with Ryan about his affection. If Ryan dies… Shane will have so many regrets. And the thought of not having Ryan close to him, it makes his heart bleed. It opens a void in his guts. It steals the breath out of his lungs.

He shakes his head. He shouldn’t think that way. He’s not religious and he doesn’t believe in the spooky stuff, so he can’t make himself _believe_ that everything is going to be okay. He can, however, avoid thinking about Ryan potentially dying and try to stay as calm as possible.

Shane sighs and turns in his pacing. He looks at the clock only to see that barely five minutes passed since he arrived here and Shane feels a bubble of anger surge in him before he pushes the emotion away. He turns again in his pacing.

“Mister Bergara?” a male voice asks.

Shane looks up to the nurse in surprise and he swallows uneasily. This can’t be good, right? Saving Ryan’s life would have to take more than five minutes. “Y-yes?”

The nurse looks at him with a small profesional smile. “If you could follow me, please.”

Shane follows the nurse as they weave deeper into the hospital’s hallways. He guesses if the unthinkable had happened, the nurse would just have told him, right? Unless his hoping to give Shane some privacy? This is horrible. Shane is about to ask for some news when the nurse stops in front of a patient’s room. He waves at the door, clearly indicating that Shane will have to enter.

“The doctor wants to talk to you,” the nurse says before leaving Shane behind.

Shane doesn’t waste a second and pulls the door open, finding the doctor standing in front of a bed and, in it, Ryan’s unconscious form. Shane quickly walks to Ryan and takes his friend’s hand in his own, unable to stay away. He notices at the same time that Ryan is still bleeding from his neck and there isn’t any bandage to try and staunch the flow. This scares him.

“What’s happening?” Shane asks, his voice shriller than he has ever heard it. “Why is Ryan still bleeding?”

“Please calm down, Mister Bergara,” the doctor, an old balding man, says. “We did some blood test as soon as your husband came in and we’ll receive the result any second now. We believe your husband has been infected with vampirism and is in the process of turning.”

Shane opens his mouth and closes it a few times. He’s confused. And then alarmed because that can’t be right, there wasn’t anyone at the prison. Ryan was all alone in a closed off room. “No,” he says urgently. “No, you’re making a mistake! There wasn’t any vampire around! Ryan can’t be affected! He… I don’t know how he hurt himself, but clearly an artery was cut or something!”

The doctor raises a hand in a placating manner, his eyes calm and empathetic though also curious. “We checked the wound,” he stops Shane. “It’s not deep enough to explain this amount of bleeding and nowhere near an artery. That with a few other symptoms indicate vampirism.”

Shane glances at Ryan, trying to somehow see what other symptoms his friend demonstrated, but he can’t think of any. And, honestly, he doesn’t think it’s that important right now. “But… How?”

Before the doctor can answer the question, the nurse opens the door just long enough to deliver the news. “The test is positive, Dr. Reynolds.” Then, the nurse leaves.

The doctor nods and turns to Shane. He seems relieved. “Your husband is definitively turning. This means he’s going to completely bleed out, making his heart stop for fifteen to twenty minutes before he’ll be able to wake up as a vampire.”

Shane doesn’t say anything. His mind is completely blank and while he’s happy that Ryan is going to be alive, he knows vampirism isn’t a condition to scoff at. Sure, there are perks, like the supernatural strength, the much slower aging and the immunity against pretty much any disease, but there are a lot of disadvantages. For example, seeing everyone you love die, having to drink blood, the social stigma, the sun allergy, the freaking predator instincts. The list goes on and Shane… still doesn’t understand how this happened.

He sits down in the chair besides Ryan while still holding his friend’s hand. He’s clutching it, really. “How?” he repeats. “He was alone in a room. There wasn’t anyone in with him.”

Doctor Reynolds sighs. “Is it possible that there was an animal in the room with him? Like a bat or a rat?”

Shane nods. “Uh, yeah… there were a lot of bats actually.”

The doctor makes a sound at the back of his throat. “The vampire community has been very vocal about denying many myths about their people, to the point that we are somewhat misinformed. While it is true that vampires can’t change their forms into beasts, some animals, like bats, rats and wolves, can be carriers of the vampire virus. Cases like your husband’s are very rare, but it happens.”

Shane simply sits there, taking the information in.

“It certainly explains why your husband’s turning is going so slowly,” the doctor adds. “When vampires willingly change someone else, they tend to make sure to bite properly so that the process is faster and less traumatic.”

“Oh,” Shane says, somewhat numbly. To think that they’d been exposing themselves to diseases like that. Is the werewolf virus also transmittable by animals?

“We still have some information we have to go over so that you and your husband can be prepared for your new lives. I’ll come back once your husband wakes up, in an hour or two we think, so that we can discuss your options all together.”

Shane agrees because, though he is curious, he doesn’t think his mind can take any more information. He’s too surprised with this turn of event. He needs time to just… let the situation sink in. “Yeah… okay.”

The doctor nods. “A nurse will keep an eye on your husband and keep you updated on the progress of the turning,” he says kindly before leaving the room.

Shane is left alone with Ryan in the small room and the silence is stifling. Even so, Shane feels alleviated. Ryan isn’t dying. Ryan is going to _live._ “Holy shit,” he sobs once. He tries to keep the tears at bay because, fuck, Ryan is going to be fine! There’s no need for him to have a breakdown. But the stress of the night is finally lifting off of his shoulders and it leaves him emotionally drained. There’s no stopping his tears and though he finds it annoying, it does feel good to just let go.

* * *

After having composed himself, Shane pulls out his phone. He has a few messages from the crew asking about Ryan’s health and the last one of them indicates that they’re driving to the hospital, but that’s it. And, somehow, Shane has the impression that he should have more messages on his phone, because it seems like the world has stopped for him. Of course, he knows this is a stupid train of thought. No one else, like their friends, other coworkers or family knows about what happened to Ryan because it’s fucking two o’clock in the morning.

Shane quickly types an answer to Devon, informing the crew about Ryan’s diagnosis. Then, Shane realises that the hospital isn’t going to call Ryan’s parents to notify them about their son having caught vampirism because he told the hospital that he’s Ryan’s _husband._

Fuck. Seriously, fuck him so hard. This means _Shane_ has to call Ryan’s parents. This is not going to be fun at all. He’s very tempted to simply text them because it’s the middle of the night, but that would be very insensitive and Shane knows he wouldn’t be impressed if he were in Ryan’s parents’ shoes.

With great reluctance, he reaches into Ryan’s pocket and fetches his friend’s phone. Luckily for him, he knows the password, having seen Ryan enter it often enough, and then he searches through his friend’s contact list until he finds the right phone number.

Shane breathes deeply and then he makes the call to the Bergara household. The phone rings five times before the answering machine takes over. Shane ends the call and considers just sending a message once again, but stops himself. He calls again and Ryan’s father answers with a very sleepy voice.

The conversation goes as well as could be expected. The Bergaras are very worried and talk about coming to join Ryan. Shane has to dissuade them because they’re a five hour drive away from the hospital and Ryan is supposed to wake before that and, from what Shane knows, which isn’t much, vampires are healthy enough after being turned.

Shane is able to end the call twenty minutes later with a promise to get Ryan to call them as soon as he wakes up. He’s able to breathe a bit easier after that ordeal and that’s when the same nurse as earlier enters the room.

“Is he still bleeding?” the man asks as he walks closer to the bed.

Shane is sitting on Ryan’s uninjured side so he shrugs, unsure. The nurse doesn’t say anything, simply walks to the bed’s other side to inspect Ryan’s neck. He hums. “The flow is much slower. He’ll go in cardiac arrest in maybe thirty minutes or so.”

This seems physically impossible now that Shane thinks about it. “Shouldn’t his heart have stopped by now? He lost so much blood…”

The nurse huffs a small laugh as he raises Ryan’s head. “That’s the vampiric virus in action,” he says as he removes the blood soaked pad and places a clean new one under Ryan. “It’s making his heart pump all the human blood out of his body to be replaced in the next few hours with vampiric blood.”

Well that makes more sense. “I see… I’ve never really looked up how a turning goes, so… I guess I just don’t know what to expect.”

The nurse seems a bit surprised. He has a thoughtful look on his face as he throws the soiled pad in a disposable bin along with this gloves. Then he turns to face Shane. “A turning is pretty straight forward. The human blood is expelled, the heart stops and then you awaken as a vampire. But…”

Now Shane does not like the sound of that. “But what?”

The nurse grimaces. “Not everyone is compatible with the vampire disease. I’m not telling you this to worry you since we’re pretty certain your husband will turn just fine. But some reject the virus and they simply die when going into cardiac arrest because it isn’t possible to remove the virus once someone is infected with it.”

Shane can’t breathe anymore. After the event of tonight, he had thought they were pretty much out of the woods. The doctor has just said that Ryan will be alright, that he’s not dying, just turning. But it ends up that Ryan could potentially still die? Why the heck didn’t the doctor tell him that?

He feels himself panicking. It’s a bubble of turmoil making the pit of his stomach feel funny and Shane is starting to feel light-headed.

“Mr Bergara? Mr Bergara, are you alright?”

Shane hears the voice like it’s coming from a great distance and recognizes that he’s losing control of himself. With great difficulty, he pushes aside the voice in his head that tells him that _Ryan is going to die_ and focuses on the nurse’s exact words.

He wets his lips, feeling strangely parched. “You said you’re pretty certain Ryan is going to make it?”

The nurse nods with a smile that wants to be reassuring. “Yes. We can’t perform a test to see if your husband is compatible with the virus because of his turning, but his symptoms are indicating that he’ll turn just fine. He’s still breathing regularly and his heartbeat, while erratic, is beating exactly like it should.”

Shane breathes out in relief though some part of him is getting angry with the nurse. Why did he say all that stuff? Why scare him like that? Did he think that Shane wasn’t traumatised enough from finding his bleeding friend in the middle of a dirty old prison?

His frustration must be clear on his face because the nurse winces and quickly explains himself. “I’m sorry, Mr Bergara. I wasn’t saying this to scare you. It’s just… as a very close family member, you need to be aware that your husband is going to be contagious. The doctor will inform you both on the precautions you’ll have to take when your husband wakes up. But… at any rate, I just wanted you to know that turning isn’t a safe procedure to everyone. You don’t want it to happen by accident, so, if I were you, I’d take a compatibility test just so that you can know your options and know how much you need to be cautious or not.”

Shane nods, slightly confused, and watches as the nurse leaves the room. For the next half hour, Shane barely sees the time pass, too stuck in his thoughts and too tired to stay very focused.

He doesn’t know much about supernatural beings. He knows that a few truly exist, like vampires, werewolves and mermaids because they have been proven by science not that long ago, maybe around a century or so. Ryan always uses these examples when he’s on a rant with Shane, telling him that he shouldn’t discard the existence of ghosts and demons since humanity has discovered some supernatural beings and they still could, right?

Ryan is the one that has researched these subjects like crazy. Ryan knows everything there is to know about vampires, werewolves and every other creature he could find. Shane never was that interested. He doesn’t know anyone that was infected with vampirism or lycanthropy and so he never felt compelled to find more information than what he would hear at school or in discussion. No. Shane was fascinated with History.

… So this means that Shane truly has no idea what’s awaiting Ryan. And that scares him, because he wants to be there for Ryan. He’s pretty sure the guy will need the help to adjust in his new life and Shane knows fuck all about vampires.

It truly frustrates him and he would do some research on his phone just to start building on his knowledge, but he’s too tired to read properly and… he feels like, if he stops looking at Ryan, the guy will disappear or something. It’s irrational, he knows, but who cares about rationality at almost three in the morning?

With that last thought, Shane sees Ryan shuddering violently with a gasp and a machine connected to Ryan starts screaming, indicating that his heart has stopped beating. Ryan becomes incredibly still after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2! Hope you liked it; you can tell me what you thought! Next update will be next Saturday. :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this chapter was maybe a bit ambitious for all the elements I wanted to add in it. That's why I decided to cut it in two. I'll try to update next weekend, but I'm moving in an apartment! My first one ever with my boyfriend! :D
> 
> So I might be a bit busy. Still, I'll do my best! Leave a comment if you want to, it's always so motivating to hear from you guys!

Shane knows that he’s supposed to expect this situation. He has been told by the doctor _and_ the nurse that Ryan is going to go into cardiac arrest for a certain time and that there is no need to worry because Ryan is going to wake up.

But fuck. Ryan’s heart _isn’t beating._ At all. And there’s this machine connected to Ryan that is screeching loudly, indicating that Ryan is basically _dead._

Shane grabs Ryan’s hand once again and tries to ignore the turmoil that is wreaking havoc in his chest. He can’t help noticing how slack Ryan’s hand is and how cold, while waiting for someone, anyone, to turn off that fucking machine.

The nurse eventually walks in the room, most probably alerted by the machine, and presses on a button, shutting the grating sound off before facing Ryan. He pulls gloves on and checks the wound on Ryan’s neck.

“He isn’t bleeding anymore,” the nurse hums. He opens one of Ryan’s eyes. “He seems to be doing well.”

If Shane weren’t a perfectly rational gentleman, he would shake the man and tell him that, no, Ryan isn’t doing well right now. But that’s the emotional part of him talking and he knows he has to calm down. If the nurse is saying that Ryan is alright, then Ryan is going to wake up eventually and he’s going to be just peachy.

“Yeah?” he still asks, his voice awfully shaky.

The nurse removes his gloves while staring at Shane. His eyes have a sort of calculating glint in them. “Why don’t you go find yourself some coffee?”

The question comes out of nowhere and Shane is too surprised to react for a few seconds. “I’m sorry?” he successfully asks once his brain is back online.

“Your husband isn’t going anywhere. Watching him like this is distressing you and you could leave for a few minutes. Just to… clear your mind. Take a breath. You’ll feel better once you come back.”

“But… what if he wakes up and I’m not there? I promised I wouldn’t leave him…” he admits lamely. He really wants to be there for Ryan. The guy… The guy looked like he was about to panic when he asked Shane to stay with him. And Shane, well, he would do anything for Ryan. He has been in love with the guy for quite some time and now that Ryan has finally, _finally,_ responded to his flirting… He _needs_ to be there for Ryan. He needs to prove to Ryan that they would be a good match. That they need each other.

The nurse walks around the bed and puts a gentle hand on Shane’s shoulders. “Mr. Bergara,” he says softly with eyes full of empathy. “Your husband won’t wake in the next ten minutes, I guarantee. So you can either stay here and feel miserable and helpless until your husband wakes, or you can take a very short break where you’re going to be able to gather yourself up. Sometimes, we need a break. You’ll feel better and stronger and your husband will be able to lean on you.”

For a short second, Shane wants to be stubborn and stay in the hospital room with Ryan. But he takes the time to think over the nurse’s speech and he has to admit that the man sure has a point. He can put his energy right here, where he can’t help Ryan at all, or he can save his energy for later, once Ryan is up and bound to panic over his new vampire status.

Shane takes a deep breath and lets go of Ryan’s hand. It hurts to do so because he so wants to keep touching his friend, just so that he can feel the very first twitch of Ryan’s fingers. But he knows it’s for the best.

“There you go,” the nurse says as Shane stands up.

Shane nods absently and leaves the room. Without really knowing where he’s going, he starts walking and quickly realises that it does feel good to stretch his legs. He feels himself breathing more fully and his posture straightening.

He doesn’t go to find a coffee. Though he does feel tired, he’s still a bit too jittery from this night’s event and he’s pretty sure mixing coffee with his state of mind would be a horrible idea. So he walks through the corridors, looks at his phone only to find some missed messages from Devon, and walks some more.

Shane also keeps a close eye on the time and when he sees that he’s been gone for seven minutes, he quickly doubles back to Ryan’s room.

He opens the door to the room and notices, first, that Ryan hasn’t moved one bit and, second, that the nurse isn’t there anymore. Shane honestly doesn’t care all that much. He simply sits down in the chair he occupied previously and picks up Ryan’s hand, cradling it carefully.

Every second that slips by seems incredibly too long. Shane keeps his eyes on Ryan, waiting for a sign that his friend is stirring awake. It takes some time, way too long, but eventually, Shane notices that there’s a slight twitch in Ryan’s neck. It’s barely anything, but Shane feels immense relief, knowing for a fact that Ryan’s heart is starting to beat again.

“Ryan?” he asks softly. “Can you hear me?”

His friend doesn’t react, but the twitch becomes more and more regular. Ryan’s hand is warming up too.

Oh God. Shane can’t help the smile that escapes him as he brings his friend’s hand closer to his body. “You’re alright,” he keeps talking, hoping it’ll soothe Ryan as he wakes up. “We’re in the hospital and you’re going to be perfectly fine. Gave us a right scare, not going to lie to you buddy, but I always knew you were extreme in your ghost hunts. Still, you’ll have to hold your horses next time, ‘cause I don’t think my heart can take another evening like this, Bergara.”

Shane knows he’s babbling. In his defence, he feels so relieved, he can’t really stop himself. That is until he hears Ryan take his very first breath.

“Shut up, Shane,” Ryan croaks lowly.

Shane wants to reply something witty, because, heck, that’s what they do, right? But he’s feeling all choked up. He grips Ryan’s hand tightly and licks his lips. “I-I… Fuck, Ryan… We’re really going to need to be more careful on those ghost hunts, you hear me? You scared me to death.”

Ryan makes a noise, sounding worried from the tone in Shane’s voice, and slowly opens his eyes. Shane doesn’t miss the slightly altered colour of Ryan’s irises. They aren’t quite red, but they aren’t as brown as they used to be.

Ryan was clearly about to say something, but as soon as his eyes open, he seems shocked and he starts looking everywhere around the room without moving his head. He’s speechless for a few minutes and Shane waits patiently, knowing that Ryan is starting to suspect that something is different with him.

“What the fuck is going on?”

* * *

When Ryan slowly regains consciousness, he first notices that he doesn’t feel his body. The feeling doesn’t last too long, thankfully, and he quickly regains the sensation of his limbs without the annoying and painful ant feeling.

So he quickly notices that someone is holding his hand, which is comforting, even more so when he understand that it’s Shane beside him, talking his ears off. Ryan is quick to tell him to shut up, of course, because that’s how they operate.

But then, Shane doesn’t answer like he should, sounding awfully choked, which is fucking horrible, and that’s when he remembers what happened. They were at the Yuma Territorial Prison, where he got injured and he thought for sure that he was going to die. Clearly he made it though.

He opens his eyes with the intention to reassure Shane that he’s alright, and hell if he isn’t touched that Shane actually followed him to the hospital, but he quickly finds out that the world has changed.

His eyesight is… funky. For a second, everything is clear. Clearer than it has ever been. He sees details like he’s looking at the world through a microscope. But then, his eyesight becomes blurry before clearing again. He feels his eyes working too hard and he just wishes to remove his contacts.

“What the fuck is going on?” he asks because he knows that something is wrong.

Shane sighs besides him and Ryan turns. He can… he can _smell_ how stressed Shane is. How sad. How relieved. And that scares Ryan.

“What happened?” he asks, his voice much higher in his panic.

Shane gently puts his hand on Ryan’s shoulder in a calming manner and the _heat_ of Shane is just… Ryan would curl against Shane and drown in the man if he could. And not… in a cute way. In a _I-want-to-be-inside-his-body-and-feel-his-blood-and-organs-around-me_ kind of way.

“Is… am I… Did I injure my head?” Ryan asks. He can’t calm down. Not only is his body not reacting normally, feeling oddly enhanced, but he feels weird urges that are borderline psychotic. “Am I going insane? I feel like I’m going insane.”

Shane shakes his head though he grows sad at Ryan’s words. “No, man. You’re not going insane, alright? You, uh, you turned. The bat that hit you infected you with vampirism.”

“That’s… not possible,” Ryan says. Because it isn’t! Ryan has made a lot of research on supernatural beings and there isn’t any information about vampirism being transmittable by animals.

“Oh, believe me, it’s possible,” Shane contradicts him. He huffs a tired sigh. “I’m just... so glad that you’re alright.”

“Alright?” Ryan questions in a squeaky voice. He doesn’t feel alright. He feels like he’s a dangerous cannonball that has been let loose. Or like a ticking bomb, just waiting to explode. He’s _hungry_ and he has read enough about newly turned vampire to know that he better be careful and eat soon or he might injure someone without meaning to.

When he first read about newly turned vampire and how dangerous they could be if left to their own devices in the first few days, Ryan had felt perplexed. Because vampires have sworn, up and down, that the turning doesn’t change who they essentially are. Their personality stays the same. They just… have new instincts to live with. So why would newly turned vampire be dangerous and unpredictable?

Ryan is pretty sure it’s because of the hunger. He feels fucking empty, like he hasn’t eaten in a week. He also feels… dry. After his ordeal, he’s pretty sure he should be somewhat sweaty. But he’s not. Swallowing is hard because he doesn’t have any saliva in his mouth. And his veins! Slowly but surely, his whole body is starting to throb, like _he_ is empty.

Which makes sense because Ryan fucking bled out.

“I’m hungry,” he admits to Shane. He has to say it. As much as he doesn’t want to drink blood, his mind screaming at him how disgusting it is, he much prefers it to losing control.

Shane seems speechless before nodding, looking determined. He leans over the bed and clicks on a button to indicate that they need a nurse. Silence falls over them and Ryan simply breathes, trying to calm himself.

Of course, it doesn’t truly work because he’s suddenly assaulted by multiples scents, like his old blood in the trash bin, the aggressive smell of sanitizer and Shane. And Shane smells… relaxed. Tired but also determined. Affectionate.

This last emotion is what truly calms Ryan. He stretches his hand and catches Shane’s, making the man look up at him.

“Thank you,” Ryan says. “Thanks for following me. For being there. You really… really helped me out there. I tend to panic when I get hurt.”

Shane smiles and Ryan knows, by the quirk of his lips, that he’s about to be teased. “Oh? You? You panic sometimes? _Ryan._ I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Ryan can’t stop the laugh that escapes him as he throws his head back. Laughing feels good. Makes him feel that everything is going to be alright. “Shut up, you asshole!” Ryan says, overly fond. “I’m trying to thank you, you ungrateful sasquatch!”

Shane shrugs. Before he can say anything else, they hear a knock on the door and then someone, a doctor, enters.

The old man smiles as he walks closer to the bed. Ryan kind of wants to let go of Shane’s hand because he feels like a little kid getting caught trying to steal some cookies. Because he isn’t dating Shane though he’s pretty sure they’re heading in that direction alright. But then Shane lied and said they were married, so Ryan is damn well keeping hold of that hand. Especially since he knows he’ll be grateful to have a human contact in the next few minutes.

“Mr. Bergara, I’m glad to see you’ve woken up,” the man says. “I’m Dr. Reynolds. I need to explain a few things to prepare you and your husband for your new life, but before that, are you hungry?”

Ryan clenches on Shane’s hand and his friend winces. Ryan lets go, realising that he’s much stronger now than he used to be.

“Uh… yeah. Yeah, I’m hungry,” Ryan admits.

Dr. Reynolds nods and walks to the door. He opens it and, after a quick conversation with a nurse, he wheels in a small trolley. On it are a plate filled with breakfast and a blood bag. Ryan cringes in disgust but he also starts salivating. He hates this.

“Here you go,” the doctor says as he brings the trolley right besides Ryan’s bed. “You can try eating breakfast if you want. Some vampires still prefer human food, while some can’t stomach it. I will have to insist you drink the blood at any rate. Newly turned vampires can be-”

“Dangerous and unpredictable if they don’t drink blood soon after a turning,” Ryan finishes the sentence. He grimaces. “Yeah, I don’t want to cause any trouble.”

Dr. Reynolds smiles. “Good. Now, don’t be surprised if you get the impression that your instincts are stronger when drinking the blood. It’s normal and you’ll get back to normal in no time. The first drink is always the strangest, but you’ll get used to it. I’ll let you eat and be back in fifteen minutes, alright?”

Ryan nods though his eyes are focused on the bag of blood. He sits up as the doctor leaves the room, but doesn’t move any further.

Shane doesn’t say anything, simply waits. That is, until it’s clear that Ryan is stuck and needs someone to push him. “You want to start with breakfast or blood?”

A small hysteric laugh escapes Ryan. He doesn’t even want to _think_ about blood. It’s disgusting. He normally feels faint when he sees blood. And the smell! Ugh! He just can’t stand it. So how is he supposed to _drink_ it?

As much as he hates the thought though, he still doesn’t have a choice. A starving vampire is a feral vampire and Ryan doesn’t want that. He sighs.

“Let’s get it over,” Ryan says without any enthusiasm. “Blood it is.”

Shane grabs the blood bag. There’s a straw that comes with it and Shane pushes it into the bag until it rips open. Ryan isn’t used to his vampiric senses and doesn’t think to hold his breath to avoid the scent. He gets a strong whiff and… Ryan isn’t disgusted. It smells… It smells delicious. Like a refined meal.

Ryan doesn’t even notice that he moves. One second, he’s sitting on the bed, dreading his upcoming diet. The next, he’s crouching on his knees, swallowing large mouthfuls of blood.

The liquid tastes like nothing he has ever tasted. As soon as the blood touches the inside of his mouth, his taste buds sing with how good it is. His entire being throbs in pleasure each time he swallows and he just wants more, more, more.

It’s like there’s a buildup. Each mouthful makes him soar higher and he’s sure that he’s on the brink of… something. His insides are tingling. Like he’s being tickled. But also like it hurts but, God, it hurts so good.

He drinks and drinks and drinks until he’s sure he’s about to have an orgasm or something. But then, there isn’t any more blood, but still, he pulls on the straw, wanting, _needing_ more blood and _there isn’t._

He growls, angry. He’s so angry. He was… He was almost there! So close and he needs more!

“Ryan?”

Why isn’t there more blood? There should be. He shouldn’t be drinking from limited supplies. He needs to drink until he sated. Doesn’t anyone understand that? Now, where can he find more blood?

“Hey, Ryan? Buddy?”

He’s still growling, aggravated. He’s trying to think, but it’s so difficult. It’s like he’s in a haze and it makes him uncomfortable. He needs blood, craves it, but it’s weird. He knows it’s weird. He doesn’t like this feeling.

“Ryan. Come on, man. It’s alright.”

A hand lands on Ryan’s shoulder and Ryan jumps. He lands on the person that startled him and he knows that he just needs to bite down to have access to more blood. It’s close, so close, and there won’t be a limit this time! He can drink until this tall man drops dead and, God, he’ll be so full!

“Ryan?”

“Oh my God,” Ryan says as the haze finally leaves him.

He’s straddling Shane and clutching at the man’s shoulders while Shane is simply holding his hips, the touch loving. Ryan is shocked. He has read about newly turned vampires and how the first drink could be intense but… he never thought it would be this intense!

Ryan gentles his touch so that he doesn’t bruise Shane any more than he already has. “Are you alright?” he asks. “I’m so sorry! I… I lost control!”

Shane huffs a laugh though he does seem a bit wrong footed. “Yeah, I noticed. Kind of went caveman, here. But more seriously. How are you? Was it okay?”

“I… It was… intense.” Ryan doesn’t really know how to describe how he’s feeling. But, damn, he kind of wants to get this off of his chest. This is the weirdest experience he’s ever had and he knows he’ll get used to it, because he’ll have to, but it’s still very novel.

“I, uh, I’m pretty sure I was very close to having an orgasm,” Ryan admits. And damn. If he’d had an orgasm? It would have been the best he’d ever had, he’s a hundred percent sure of that.

Shane’s eyes open in surprise and then he laughs. The sound kind of bursts out of him, like he didn’t mean it to leave him. “Holy fuck!”

Ryan slaps Shane on the shoulder because his friend is being an asshole. “Shut up!” But he kind of can’t help the smile that leaves him. The situation is serious. So serious. But it’s also so terribly funny. “Next time, I’ll bite you for real!” he threatens.

This sets Shane off even more and Ryan can’t help but follow.

When they get their laughter under control, Ryan is terribly aware that he’s still straddling his friend and it makes him feel self-conscious. “Um… Sorry.”

He makes to back off, but Shane brings him closer and it might make Ryan’s heart flutter. Clearly, they’re going to need to speak at some point, but, hell, this is heading somewhere. Somewhere real good.

“I’m sorry about almost biting you,” Ryan says, just so that he can change the subject. He doesn’t want to talk about their relationship in a damn hospital where the personnel thinks they’re married. “I wasn’t expecting how intense drinking blood will be. I’ll, uh. Get used to it. Eventually.”

“It’s alright,” Shane assures him. He seems sincere. “And I’ll be there for you.”

It’s so good to hear that. Because, if Ryan is being honest, he doesn’t want to face being a vampire on his own. It would be too terrifying. “Thank you.”

“You feel better though? The nurse kind of told me your body is still adjusting to the change. Drinking blood is supposed to help.”

“Yeah,” Ryan admits. His veins aren’t throbbing anymore and his hunger is mostly gone. “Much better. I really want to remove my contacts though, they’re annoying and I don’t think I need them anymore.”

Shane helps him. There isn’t a mirror in the room and they don’t dare leave to a restroom, knowing the doctor will be back soon. So Shane somehow ends up with his fingers in Ryan’s eyes despite the fact that Ryan can do this on his own but… it’s kind of sweet to see how much Shane wants to help him. So Ryan lets him.

It’s the weirdest romantic moment in history, but Ryan is still excited about it. It is sadly cut short because there’s a knock at the door and then the doctor finds them with Ryan still in Shane’s lap. Thankfully, both contacts are out and Shane’s fingers aren’t anywhere near his eyes. Still, Ryan blushes as he sits back on the bed.

“I see you drank the blood,” Dr. Reynolds says as he approaches, pointing to the empty bag lying at the foot of the bed. “That’s good, that’s good. Ready for our talk then?”

Ryan isn’t ready. Not at all. He can’t even think of himself as a vampire yet, despite having drank blood. But he wants to go home as soon as possible and he wants… he wants this transition tin his new life o be as smooth as it can be. So listening to the doctor it is.

“Yes.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Moving to my new apartment was... quite the adventure. But I finally got to write the last chapter! I hope you liked this story :)
> 
> On a side note, you can follow me on tumblr under the same user name!

Ryan is strung high, waiting for the doctor to speak. In all honesty, he prefers being stiff than trembling all over like a scared little dog, but… yeah. He is dreading this.

Dr. Reynolds clears his throat as he puts his hands in his lab coat’s pockets. He fixes Ryan with his compassionate gaze. “First of all, you have to acknowledge that it is alright to… be unhappy with this turn of event. Normally, a turning is prepared in advance and there are a few medical loops to pass before the process can happen. Yours are… unusual circumstances.”

Ryan swallows with some difficulty. He knows this. Of course he does. But hearing that doctor say that he can be upset, that this is an accident that shouldn’t have happened… It kind of makes him want to cry. Or scream at the injustice of it all.

Because, yeah, sure, he has thought about being turned into a vampire before, in the same way that he dreamt about having superpowers. But he never wanted this to happen for real!

“A newly turned vampire is sometimes required to meet with a specialist for a few weeks so that the transition into their new lives can be as smooth as possible,” the doctor continues. “In your case, I have to insist that you go to the vampiric clinic. I have already contacted the specialists at the clinic and they’re ready for you. You just have to drive there, it’s on Scottsdale Drive. If you don’t show in the next week-”

Ryan is trying to assimilate all the information that is being said, but in all honesty, he’s feeling overwhelmed and doesn’t notice that there’s something wrong with what the doctor is saying. Shane does, however.

“Scottsdale Drive?” his friend asks, interrupting the doctor. “You mean… here? In Yuma?”

Dr. Reynolds blinks behind his glasses. “That’s right.”

Oh, Ryan thinks. Yeah. That’s problematic.

“We actually live in Los Angeles,” Shane informs the older man. “Is there a clinic we can go to there or… ?”

“Of course!” Dr. Reynolds assures them. He seems slightly sheepish. “Sorry for the confusion. We’ll make the appropriate calls and inform the clinic up in Los Angeles.”

Ryan sighs, relieved. Being stuck in Yuma for the next few weeks would have been… awful. Even though he’s glad to know that he’s going to have some help from professionals and, really, he would have stayed here if he’d had to… It still would have been horrible to be so far from home. Already, he just wants to go back to his apartment. Or his parents’ house. He wants to have his cherished people close by. He wants Shane. And if he was stuck in Yuma, so far away from home, he can’t be sure that Shane would stay because of their job.

“Thank you,” he breathes out.

Dr. Reynolds smiles. “We’ll sort this out so that you just have to show up as soon as you can to the clinic,” he says before growing more serious. “We do have to talk about your new eating habits however. As you might already know, you’ll have to drink blood at least two to three times a week with regular meals if you can. If you feel unable to eat normal food, you will have to drink more blood.”

Well, that doesn’t sound appetizing. Ryan just hopes that he’ll be able to stomach other food than blood.

“Now, you do have access to blood bags,” the doctor informs them.

At that, Ryan sees Shane’s shoulders drop, like he’s relieved. Ryan knows more about vampires though, and he knows there’s more to it.

“The clinic will make you fill some paperwork so that you can have access to blood banks without any trouble.”

“But?” Ryan asks when the doctor stops there.

The older man sighs. “But you can’t live only on blood bags. We recommend that you drink from the source at least twice a month so that your health doesn’t suffer from it.”

The silence is tense for a few seconds until Shane breaks it. “But he’s contagious…”

The doctor nods. “Yes. It’s a tricky situation, but there are many ways to stay safe. Now, I have to ask, do you know anyone that’s a vampire? In your family or social circle? Many vampires drink from their species since it is safe and eliminates the danger of exposure to the disease. It needs to be someone you feel relatively close to, or so I’ve been told. The experience of drinking from another one can be very intimate.”

A blush appears on Ryan’s face as he tries to think about the people he knows. After drinking from the blood bag… he has to admit that it was intense. Very intense. And he fully believes that he won’t be able to drink from anybody he doesn’t feel close to.  _ Really _ close to.

He can compare drinking blood from someone to having sex. Ryan isn’t the one-night stand kind of guy. He wouldn’t want to have sex with someone that he doesn’t know. Someone he doesn’t feel a connection to. He just hopes that, unlike sex, he’ll be able to drink from someone that is just a friend or a family member or something. Because if he can only do it with someone he feels romantically attracted to… the pool is very small and there’s no guarantee Shane is interested in that.

Though there is something very alluring about mixing blood drinking with sex. That… that must be quite an experience.

“I, uh, don’t know anyone that’s a v-vampire,” Ryan stutters finally. No that he had to think it over too long, since he knows that that would be something he’d remember quite clearly.

Dr. Reynolds nods, like he was expecting that answers. “In that case, you’ll either have to find someone in your entourage that would like to let you drink from them or the clinic will provide you with a volunteer. In case like yours, where you’re already married with an unaffected human, the spouse tends to be the blood giver. Of course, that is something you will have to discuss together.”

Ryan looks down at the bed sheets beneath him. That’s a lot of information to mull over. He has some very important discussions to have with… many people and it’s stressing him out. He needs to find someone that will feed him and he’ll be dependent on them for… Well. For as long as that person is alive. And then, he’ll have to find someone else because the person will die and Ryan will still be alive.

Oh God, everyone he knows will eventually die and Ryan will still be young and he’ll be  _ alone _ .

Before he can fully panic at the thought, Shane says something that surprises him.

“I’ll do it.”

Ryan gapes at his friend. Shane’s jaw is tense he’s holding his head high. “Uh…” is the only thing Ryan can say, because… shit. This is big! Shane can’t just make a decision this fast!

Dr. Reynolds doesn’t seem to notice Ryan’s alarm. He smiles at Shane. “I’m glad to hear that. In that case, it will be very important that you test your compatibility to the virus, sir. That way, you’ll be able to know how careful you have to be while your husband is drinking from you, whether you have to use some mouthpiece to avoid direct contact or something less dramatic. You’ll also be able to think over whether or not you want to be turned too.”

Ryan blinks. “Turned?”

The old man shrugs. “It happens often in married couples.”

“Oh…” Ryan says dumbly. Because it does makes sense. But Shane and him aren’t married, so…

“That… is something to think over,” Shane mumbles, clearly deep in thoughts.

The little comment feels like a slap. Ryan can’t believe Shane is actually thinking this over. “Woah there,” he says as he stares at his friend. “You’re not going to turn.”

Shane looks at Ryan, his brows furrowed. “Why not?”

Ryan feels like nothing makes sense anymore. “Are you kidding me?” he asks, though he can smell how determined Shane is. “We’re not… This isn’t happening! We’re talking about changing your entire life!”

Shane is about to answer but Dr. Reynolds clears his throat and they both turn to face the man.

“That is an important conversation you will have to have in the near future. Now, unless you want to do the compatibility test tonight, you are free to leave. Just stop at the front desk to sign the discharge papers and we’ll give you enough blood bags to last you a few days. I insists once again that you visit the clinic as soon as possible though.”

Shane nods as he stands. “Yeah. We’ll go to the clinic as soon as we can,” he says as he helps Ryan to stand. Ryan doesn’t need the help, but it feels good to have Shane’s hand in his.

“Thank you,” Ryan tells the doctor.

The man smiles at them, smelling oddly happy yet sad, and then Ryan and Shane walk out of the hospital room.

* * *

Half an hour later, Ryan is properly discharged and the blood bags are safe in the cooler the hospital provided them with. The crew left with the cooler in search of the car, leaving Ryan alone with Shane near the entrance.

Ryan should be feeling bone tired and, in a way, he is. His eyes burn from wanting to sleep and his body feels heavy after this whole ordeal. He knows, if he had the opportunity, he’d crawl in a corner and fall asleep in seconds.

But then there’s this other part of him that can’t even contemplate shutting his eyes. His senses are turned up to eleven. Just breathing the night air brings so many information. He can smell the cold cigarettes on the ground, the car exhaust and even piss in a nearby bush. Fuck, he can see in the dark!

It’s overwhelming.

Still, there’s mostly one thought on his mind and that is what Shane said to the doctor. Did Shane really mean that he was contemplating a turning? Ryan is touched. This situation sucks and he’s sure that he hasn’t yet completely realised and accepted what happened. Yet, knowing that Shane would follow him in this new life… it’s touching. Completely delusional, that’s for damn sure, but touching nonetheless.

Because… let’s be real. What Shane is saying is just crazy. Who would turn simply to support a friend? And, yeah, okay, sure, they’re so heading towards being a couple, but… Talking about turning right before they officially start dating… It’s like asking to marry someone without having dated.

_ Crazy. _

“You want to tell me what you’re thinking about?” Shane asks.

“Uh… wha… ?” is Ryan’s brilliant answer as he turns to look at his friend.

Shane has a smug look on his face. He also kind of smells fond. “You’re going to hurt yourself if you think too hard.”

“I’m not thinking too hard,” Ryan immediately counters, more on reflex than anything else. “I’m just…”

He isn’t too sure how to end that sentence.

“Thinking?” Shane eventually suggests.

Ryan slaps Shane on the shoulder, because the idiot is being stupid, teasing him like that, and that’s just the kind of gesture he does when his friend acts like that. Only, he doesn’t think about his strength. His new, vampiric strength. And while Shane clearly isn’t seriously hurt, the blow still makes him take a step back.

“... Ow…” Shane mutters as he rubs his shoulder. He’s smiling. “There’s no need to attack me, sir. I was just trying to be helpful.”

Ryan knows what Shane is doing. The guy is trying to diffuse the situation and Ryan isn’t having any of it. This is the kind of thing that Ryan isn’t prepared for. He didn’t  _ want _ to be turned into a vampire. He hasn’t wanted for months to be turned, where he would have thought about everything it entails,  _ like being much stronger, _ and this… this is scary.

What if he forgets about his strength and seriously hurts someone? What if he gets too hungry and freaking attacks a random person? A friend? Family?

Ryan has been trying to push those thoughts away, but he can’t right now. Because, yeah, slapping Shane a bit too hard isn’t the end of the world. But he has used too much force with Shane a few times already and this is only the beginning. Ryan hasn’t even been a vampire for twelve hours and he knows he will have to adapt to this new life and it’s going to take… months. Maybe even years.

A  _ lot _ of accidents can happen in that time frame.

“I… I’m so sorry, Shane,” Ryan apologises sincerely, his whole body tense.

But Shane just shakes his head and simply approaches Ryan until he has the younger man buried in his arms. Ryan can’t help but relax in the hug, returning it. Shane has been amazing all night and Ryan would be lying if he said he didn’t need some comfort right now.

“You don’t have to apologise,” Shane whispers against Ryan’s very sensitive ear. “Now, how about you tell me what’s bugging you?”

Ryan takes a breath… and gets stuck there. He isn’t sure how to approach this conversation… Maybe as direct as he can be? Shane is good at evading, but if Ryan pushes… Then again, sometimes Shane can be really forthcoming when he wants to be.

Fuck it, he thinks.

“You can’t be serious,” he simply says.

It must be too vague because Shane hesitates before answering. “About?”

“You can’t be seriously thinking about turning too!” Ryan growls, slightly embarrassed and mostly stressed. Dear God, this stresses him so much. Everything in his life seems to be changing tonight.

Shane shrugs and, again, he smells determined. “Yeah. Why not?”

“Why not?” Ryan asks disbelievingly as he leans back to see Shane’s face, his eyes wide. “Shane. That’s just crazy.”

“Why?” Shane asks him, his fingers tender as they stroke down Ryan’s back.

Ryan is a bit distracted, because that feels nice, but fuck, this isn’t a conversation he wants to have more than once. 

“Shane, I…” This isn’t easy, but Ryan pushes himself. “I like you. A lot. Um. I kind of love you, okay? And, clearly we’re… I mean, of course, we need to talk about it and agree, but we’re… going to date, right?”

“Of course,” Shane says as he beams at Ryan. The happiness and joy that exudes from him is unmistakable.

Ryan’s heart flutters and, fuck, they’re dating, finally! But this isn’t the most pressing thing. So he clears his throat. “Okay. Yeah, cool, cool.”

“You’re so fucking adorable,” Shane murmurs unthinkingly.

It makes Ryan blush because, damn... adorable? He’s rambling, not cute, but whatever.

He clears his throat again, to Shane’s amusement. “Yeah, so… awesome. But… don’t you think this is a bit too fast? Like… way too fast? We haven’t even kissed or… or gone on a date and you’re talking about turning into a vampire? This is like you’re asking to marry me or something…”

Shane doesn’t respond immediately and it makes Ryan feel insecure. He’s baring his heart here and Shane acts like he hasn’t heard anything.

Then, Shane sighs, sounding awfully tired. “I’m not saying I’m going to get turned tomorrow,” he admits, looking vulnerable. “I’m just… Look. What do we do every Tuesday?”

Ryan hesitates only for a second, unsure where this is going. “We… well, we work…”

“Yeah,” Shane agrees. “And?”

“Well…” Ryan has to think it over, though the answer suddenly pops into his mind. It seems so evident now that he thinks about it. “After work, we go eat somewhere.”

“What about Thursday?”

Ryan has a feeling he knows where this is going. “Same.”

“And Friday?”

Ryan sighs, though he feels his heartbeat going faster. “We either go to your apartment or mine. We watch a movie and if we’ve been drinking too much, we stay the night over.”

Shane nods with a smile. “And we always say we drank too much as an excuse to stay over,” he says and Ryan has to admit that that is true, “and we always share a bed when, really, we could use the couch to sleep. Ryan. We’ve been dating without really dating for a long time already.”

Ryan nods, his voice failing him.

“I love you,” Shane says softly. “And I don’t want you to… be alone in this. I know it isn’t easy being a vampire and you’re going to live such a long life. I think you need someone by your side and I want to be that person. I think we should give real dating a shot before I make any decision, but… maybe in a year or two or five… I think that’s a change that I would want to do. Because you’re worth it.”

Ryan swallows with some difficulty. “That… is the most romantic thing someone has ever told me,” Ryan says, feeling so much love for the man standing in front of him. His heart feels so full, like it’s about to burst. “I love you.”

Shane smiles and leans down to land a soft kiss on Ryan’s lips and Ryan can only think one thing.

_ Finally. _


End file.
